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Young Peking Opera fans keep timeless art alive
By Gu Xianhui and Wang Jie |
October 25, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IN 1990, an old man named Hu Mengchu gathered together a few opera aficionados in Jiading District and formed the Meiyuan Society of Peking Opera Fans.
Now, 20 years later, the little society has grown into a sizable organization. Older members are particularly gratified to see people in their 20s joining the group. Hope springs that an art form often called the quintessence of Chinese culture will be preserved for generations to come.
Zhang Liang joined the society in 2001 when he was in his 20s. His appreciation for traditional opera is evident in his dress. He usually wears a traditional Chinese jacket, causing a lot of heads to turn wherever he goes.
Zhang's behavior may seem a bit odd in a society where young people are smitten with pop music. But the same themes of pop music love, despair, jealousy and hope are also found in opera stories. Only the style of presenting human emotions is different.
Many people develop a love for Peking Opera because of family influences, Zhang said.
"My situation is a bit different. I am the only opera fan in my family," he recalled. "It all happened by chance. I remember watching a Peking Opera on television when I was a small boy. I don't recall the title of the opera. Perhaps it was 'The Orphan of the Zhaos'."
Whatever the title, the young boy was captivated by what he heard and saw.
Zhang began to learn about Peking Opera when he was a middle school student. The Meiyuan Society started a special class at his school. Zhang was the first to join.
Society founder Hu served as principal instructor of the class. It was through the class that Zhang came to learn about Yang Baosen, one of the most famous masters of Peking Opera, who died in 1958. Zhang had his first lesson in Peking Opera singing with a teacher named Lu Dongliang.
As time went on, more and more time had to be spent on schoolwork. The class for Peking Opera fans was suspended, and Zhang moved into a phase of his life without Peking Opera.
Several years later, Zhang went to see a film starring Lin Dongfu, who played an upper-class Shanghai man. In one scene, Lin sleepily emerged from his bedroom for breakfast, singing the melodious lines from the famous Peking Opera "Hongyang Cave : For my homeland".
"I will work all the day, hating to idle even a minute away!" said Zhang.
At the time, Zhang didn t know what opera the music was from. Was it the music? Or was it the words that so captivated Zhang and reawakened his love of Peking Opera all over again?
From then on, he was hooked for good. He became totally lost in Peking Opera performances. He spent long nights learning classic arias from Peking Opera master Yang Baosen, a pastime few people his age would pursue. In no time he became the youngest president of the Meiyuan Society.
Another young member in the society is Wang Xiulong, a college graduate from Shaanxi Province. Wang joined the group in 2005 and has become a backbone of the organization. In a party to mark the 20th anniversary of the society this year, Wang performed a popular aria from "The Drunken Concubine," a Peking Opera classic. His performance was greeted with enthusiastic applause.
When people think about Shaanxi Province, they are most familiar with the sonorous qinqiang (Shaanxi Opera), said Wang.
As a matter of fact, Peking Opera stayed in vogue there for quite some time thanks to Shang Xiaoyun, one of China's top four Peking Opera masters, who brought Peking Opera to that northwest province in association with the Shaanxi Peking Opera Theatre.
Unlike Zhang, Wang comes from a family of opera fans.
"It is hard to say whether I liked it or not at the beginning," he said. "Maybe it was just some sort of submission because it was such a major part of our family life. At any rate, Peking Opera has been deeply part of me since my childhood."
Once in college, Wang had the opportunity to study Peking Opera and learn about its many facets.
"I became an aficionado in the truest sense of the word," he said.
Wang mainly learned to play a female role, and took part in the 2005 and 2007 joint Peking Opera performances by college students. Realizing his dearth of performing skills, he buried himself deeper in the study of Peking Opera, determined to broaden his understanding of this traditional art.
Wang particularly wanted to emulate the performing techniques of the Mei Lanfang school, pioneered by arguably the most famous of Peking Opera masters, who died in 1961.
"The performing skills developed by Master Mei Lanfang are one of the three internationally acclaimed systems for performing Peking Opera," Wang said. "The technique is rooted in Chinese culture and is, at the same time, a carrier of Chinese culture. As amateurs learning the performing skills of this school, we hope mainly to refine our artistic prowess."
Once in the Meiyuan society, Wang met others who shared his passion for Peking Opera. He said it's a little like traveling in a far-off land and suddenly meeting people from your hometown.
"To study Peking Opera is to inherit and preserve an art form developed and cherished by our ancestors, " he said. "Some people have come to celebrate Christmas but not at the expense of celebrating Spring Festival. It all has to do with cultural roots that extend beyond the limits of space and time."
Wang said it's hard to describe what he feels when he listens to the opera singing of ancestors or sings the same arias they once sang.
"In a sense, the old isn't old at all," he said. "Chinese respect their elders"
"We love our culture, too. When it comes to art appreciation, all nations have cultures they want to preserve. They symbolize our spirit as a people and a nation. For that reason, we must continue to preserve this cherished heritage from generation to generation."
Now, 20 years later, the little society has grown into a sizable organization. Older members are particularly gratified to see people in their 20s joining the group. Hope springs that an art form often called the quintessence of Chinese culture will be preserved for generations to come.
Zhang Liang joined the society in 2001 when he was in his 20s. His appreciation for traditional opera is evident in his dress. He usually wears a traditional Chinese jacket, causing a lot of heads to turn wherever he goes.
Zhang's behavior may seem a bit odd in a society where young people are smitten with pop music. But the same themes of pop music love, despair, jealousy and hope are also found in opera stories. Only the style of presenting human emotions is different.
Many people develop a love for Peking Opera because of family influences, Zhang said.
"My situation is a bit different. I am the only opera fan in my family," he recalled. "It all happened by chance. I remember watching a Peking Opera on television when I was a small boy. I don't recall the title of the opera. Perhaps it was 'The Orphan of the Zhaos'."
Whatever the title, the young boy was captivated by what he heard and saw.
Zhang began to learn about Peking Opera when he was a middle school student. The Meiyuan Society started a special class at his school. Zhang was the first to join.
Society founder Hu served as principal instructor of the class. It was through the class that Zhang came to learn about Yang Baosen, one of the most famous masters of Peking Opera, who died in 1958. Zhang had his first lesson in Peking Opera singing with a teacher named Lu Dongliang.
As time went on, more and more time had to be spent on schoolwork. The class for Peking Opera fans was suspended, and Zhang moved into a phase of his life without Peking Opera.
Several years later, Zhang went to see a film starring Lin Dongfu, who played an upper-class Shanghai man. In one scene, Lin sleepily emerged from his bedroom for breakfast, singing the melodious lines from the famous Peking Opera "Hongyang Cave : For my homeland".
"I will work all the day, hating to idle even a minute away!" said Zhang.
At the time, Zhang didn t know what opera the music was from. Was it the music? Or was it the words that so captivated Zhang and reawakened his love of Peking Opera all over again?
From then on, he was hooked for good. He became totally lost in Peking Opera performances. He spent long nights learning classic arias from Peking Opera master Yang Baosen, a pastime few people his age would pursue. In no time he became the youngest president of the Meiyuan Society.
Another young member in the society is Wang Xiulong, a college graduate from Shaanxi Province. Wang joined the group in 2005 and has become a backbone of the organization. In a party to mark the 20th anniversary of the society this year, Wang performed a popular aria from "The Drunken Concubine," a Peking Opera classic. His performance was greeted with enthusiastic applause.
When people think about Shaanxi Province, they are most familiar with the sonorous qinqiang (Shaanxi Opera), said Wang.
As a matter of fact, Peking Opera stayed in vogue there for quite some time thanks to Shang Xiaoyun, one of China's top four Peking Opera masters, who brought Peking Opera to that northwest province in association with the Shaanxi Peking Opera Theatre.
Unlike Zhang, Wang comes from a family of opera fans.
"It is hard to say whether I liked it or not at the beginning," he said. "Maybe it was just some sort of submission because it was such a major part of our family life. At any rate, Peking Opera has been deeply part of me since my childhood."
Once in college, Wang had the opportunity to study Peking Opera and learn about its many facets.
"I became an aficionado in the truest sense of the word," he said.
Wang mainly learned to play a female role, and took part in the 2005 and 2007 joint Peking Opera performances by college students. Realizing his dearth of performing skills, he buried himself deeper in the study of Peking Opera, determined to broaden his understanding of this traditional art.
Wang particularly wanted to emulate the performing techniques of the Mei Lanfang school, pioneered by arguably the most famous of Peking Opera masters, who died in 1961.
"The performing skills developed by Master Mei Lanfang are one of the three internationally acclaimed systems for performing Peking Opera," Wang said. "The technique is rooted in Chinese culture and is, at the same time, a carrier of Chinese culture. As amateurs learning the performing skills of this school, we hope mainly to refine our artistic prowess."
Once in the Meiyuan society, Wang met others who shared his passion for Peking Opera. He said it's a little like traveling in a far-off land and suddenly meeting people from your hometown.
"To study Peking Opera is to inherit and preserve an art form developed and cherished by our ancestors, " he said. "Some people have come to celebrate Christmas but not at the expense of celebrating Spring Festival. It all has to do with cultural roots that extend beyond the limits of space and time."
Wang said it's hard to describe what he feels when he listens to the opera singing of ancestors or sings the same arias they once sang.
"In a sense, the old isn't old at all," he said. "Chinese respect their elders"
"We love our culture, too. When it comes to art appreciation, all nations have cultures they want to preserve. They symbolize our spirit as a people and a nation. For that reason, we must continue to preserve this cherished heritage from generation to generation."
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